Trying more raw

The last two days Arya got to eat 3 chicken legs total. She loved it but I think 3 in 2 days was too much. Her stool this morning was really hard. She was straining. So we did some more research on proper portions of raw food, apparently its 80-10-10. 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ. Oopps! She might have gotten too much bone in her diet which caused her stool to be too hard.

We did some grocery shopping for her. We bought an apple to see if she'd like it. We are trying to incorporate more natural/unprocessed foods in her diet. She likes dried strawberries and carrots. I gave her half of a 10 inch carrot and she liked it. It just ended being messy. Her left over look like ground carrot on the carpet and she wouldn't eat her "crumbs".

Ground chicken with
chicken heart and liver.

Chicken heart

Back to the grocery list. We also bought her ground chicken, chicken heart, and chicken liver. I cut up the chicken liver and heart into smaller pieces. The liver I already know she doesn't chew but I wasn't sure about the heart so I cut just in case. The heart we bought was little fatty, so while cutting it I removed the fat. She liked it. She has never been really been a picky eater. She licked her bowl clean. I cut a small wedge of the apple for her. I thought it was funny that she wouldn't take the whole wedge or that eat the smaller pieces that I gave her. She nibbled on the wedge when I held it for her. She only used her front teeth. 

What other kinds raw foods do you give you pet? Have you guys tried primal raw food? Which would you guys recommend?

Dog Park and Shiba Meetup Adventure

As soon as we are able to take Arya to the dog park, we brought her. She loved it! I think the most exciting part was being with other dogs that actually wants to play with her. Before the dog park she has met our other family dogs but they were older and didn't want to play with her. She moves too fast and she likes to put her paw around their neck, which they hated. 

Back to dog park, she was a little bit over 4 months old when we first took her. She was alone for awhile, then a Maltese came. They wrestled for a while. The only thing that I didn't like was she copies what the other dogs were doing, like drinking on puddles. Then another dog came, a whippet. She was afraid of the whippet. She whined every time the whippet tried to play with her and after that she just hid under the bench that Ed and I were sitting on.

We tried another dog park the following week, which I ended up not liking because it was dirty. The following we tried another one. This is now the dog park that we take Arya to. I liked it because it was clean and the small and large dogs are separated. We took her every Friday to that dog park. About 10 other dogs are there every time we go. There are chihuahuas, maltese, poodles and a pomeranian. And there's a french bull dog named Bo that Arya plays with him all the time. Mostly because he doesn't mind how rough Arya plays. However, Bo likes to bite her ears. She doesn't ran away from him though. She's  very resilient. She'll play til she's tired.

Arya with a sesame shiba

On June 16th we went to a Shiba Inu meet up. There were about 10 other shibas there. I wonder if she knows that the dogs that she's with are the same breed as her. She got to ran around with the other shibas. They can keep up with her. A french bull dog showed up and she wrestled with Arya for the rest of our time at the dog park. I think this was the first time that Arya got tired before the other dog. 

Just doing the shiba 500 with others.

Just hanging in the shade

Arya in the background.
Yoshi (standing) the tallest shiba in the meetup.

Arya with her new friend

Bully what?!

I had no idea what a bully stick is. I didn't know what it's made of. I thought it was just a really hard beef jerky. Ed finally told me. It's made out of bull penis. Lol! I guess they utilize every part. Bully sticks smell. It stinks! But Arya loves it. We bought one in anticipation of her arrival and she loves the thing. I'm not worried that she'll chip a tooth because it gets soft as she chews on it. The smell also gets worse as she chews on it. It took her awhile to get through the first one. The second one faster and the third even more. We go to Western Feed to buy her bully sticks ($5-7 each) the rate that she was going I wanted to buy it in bulk to save a bit. We tried a cheaper bully stick, she didn't like it. Maybe because the it doesn't smell as much as the other did.

I did my research to see what other brands are out there. Best bully sticks was getting a lot of good reviews but it was a bit too pricey. I've looked daily at the deals at doggyloot but I didn't find ones that I thought Arya would like. They have bully sticks in all sorts; spiral, pretzel shape, odor less. I didn't want to get her sticks in weird shapes because she has a hard time holding it when it gets smaller. I think the smell of the bully stick is what she likes so odor less is out of the question. 

When I went to Costco I saw that they have bully sticks too. The brand is Cadet Bully Sticks, it's $24.99 for 12, 12" sticks. She loves it! The smell is bad or I guess I should say stronger. I also bought her pup-peroni. She's crazy for those. 

Arya with her new bully stick!

 

Going raw!

Before Ed brought up the option of feeding Arya raw food I didn't even consider it. I didn't know pets were actually fed raw food. It took a lot of convincing for me to agree to try raw food. I just couldn't wrap my mind around. Also, being a bio major I have a lot of concerns, like Salmonella. What if she get's it? I know how bad the effects are to humans. However, Ed did his research prepared to persuade me into trying raw. Apparently a dog's stomach can handle Salmonella better than we can.

Arya's first raw food was chicken legs. Again I freaked out. I left her with Ed and when I came back she was half way through the bone. THE BONE! But I found out that as long as the chicken is raw, the bone is okay to eat. But I was still worried.

The next time Ed went to the meat store he bought liver as well. She ate the liver like Jello! So I ended up cutting it up in smaller pieces since she isn't chewing it.We wanna try other raw foods like heart, marrow, and chicken feet. I'm still getting used to the idea of feeding her raw but she likes it so much. Her teeth feels clean after having raw food. They don't feel slimy at all. Her breath smells better too. As much as she like eating her raw chicken she refuses to touch it. When I stopped holding the chicken leg for her she wouldn't hold it she backs up a little bit every time it would get near her. The first time she had chicken legs, she ate the meat first. Now she'll eat some meat and then go for the bone. I guess the bone is the best part.

From 8 weeks to present

I am playing catch up. This might be a long and random post.

Arya has grown so much since we picked her up. Her legs are super long now and her tail is so curly and fluffy!

The top left is when she's 8 weeks old. Top right is about 10 weeks.
Bottom is 12 weeks.

The attitude, she has developed her personality quickly. She amazes me. Arya dislikes water. When spring came and rain it brought with it, she would panic when we take her outside and there would be puddles of water everywhere. She would be in and out of the spot she potties when the grass is wet as compared to when it's dry she'd wander around for a bit. She just doesn't like being wet period. So I thought I should get her a rain coat. I got her a pink rain coat. She looked so adorable in it. But getting her to walk while it's on her is almost impossible. She just froze, with that said I think she hated it. I will try it again next rainy season. I think it will help with the "wet dog" smell.

For her first set of vaccines we took her to VCA. When she was getting her physical exam, the vet tech gave Arya some treats. After she gave Arya the shots though she wouldn't even look at the vet tech or take treats from her. At first I thought maybe she doesn't like the treats but she took it from me. I guess my little puppy knows how to hold a grudge. It was pretty expensive even with the free check up. I did some research on where I can get her vaccines, heart worm and flea/tick meds for a more reasonable price. We ended up taking her to a mobile clinic "Luv my Pet" which comes to Petco about twice a month. The vets there are very nice and professional. Luv my Pets, offer other services such as heart worm exams that we plan on doing soon. We are planning on taking her to VCA again for a physical exam when she turns a year old.

Oh she's stubborn. When she finally learned her name and it wasn't too long after we got her that she did, we were so excited. However, she would only look up when she wants to or come when we have treats. We'd call her and she'll just look at me. She gives me this look like "really, you want me to come but you have no food for me?" Lol! Sometimes she won't look but I know she hears me. Her little fluffy ears are twitching.

We continued to have her sleep in her crate up to a month ago. She digs when first put in the crate and she eventually falls asleep for about two months. When we know that she is potty trained we slowly let her sleep in the bed. Sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night wanting to play, when this happens she goes back in the crate.

I didn't know that dog looses their teeth like humans do. That was a big surprise to me. What I found funny was that she swallows it. We try to get it from her when we hear/see her. I think Ed and I still have some of her teeth that fell out. Sometimes I would wake up at night because I would hear her. One time I thought she was throwing up but she was just pushing her tooth with her tongue. Arya became more cranky when she was teething. We had to buy her wet food. We bought Wellness for Puppy. It smelled so good, no wonder she liked it so much. The wet food helped with the teething. She still eats her Wellness for Puppy kibble when hand fed.

Recap of First Day

For awhile Edmar and I talked about getting a puppy. He did exhausting research on different breeds and settled on getting an AKK. Then he found out about Shiba Inus. He did his research on the breed, he scoured the internet for information. Then one day he said we're going to Reno, NV to meet with a breeder and see the parents of our future puppy. I wasn't able to make it but he loved what he saw and I did too from the pictures. Plus, I just thought of how cool it will be to tell others that my puppy is the closest descendant to a wolf? We weren't supposed to get our Shiba until April. However, a breeder from Marysville, CA had a puppy that wasn't adopted yet. We were set on getting a boy. We were gonna name him Rhaego from the Game of Thrones series but only a girl was available. We were super excited and couldn't wait two more months. We decided on naming her after our favorite character from the series. Once, it was settled that we were going to get a puppy. We went shopping for everything that we thought she would need; crate, playpen, numerous toys, food, treats, matching collar and harness. 

On February 24th,we picked up Arya. I was so excited, yet worried. I haven't had any sort of pet in so long. I was worried about how she's gonna adapt to us and if she'll like us. She was the cutest little thing ever. Arya is red Shiba Inu. She was born on December 24, 2011. She's almost a Christmas puppy.

She was very friendly and playful. She showed off when we saw her. She could fetch  the tennis ball inside a sock. She sat on my lap on our way home and liked looking out the window. I remembered she was scared of trucks. She'd come inside and just lay down. When we took her home she had us wrapped around her little paws when she started chasing her own tail.

 She did good on her first night. She did not whine at all. She slept in her crate with her purple bear that the breeder gave us. She said that it smells like Arya's litter.